To some extent we all have a fear of the future. Some of us feel this acutely. Others not so much. Will I find success? Will I find love? Will I have children? Will my children find success? What must I sacrifice to ensure their success? Will I or those I love become ill or even die before their time?
It is undoubtedly the case that there is a 'present', which we experience, and a 'future' which, by very definition, we have yet to experience. Many societies, including our own, have a strong sense that the future is already mapped out. Many contemporary physicists and mathemathicians believe this to be the case. But even if this is true, there is an undeniable dualism between the 'I' of experience and the big pre-determined mechanism of the universe.
Many ancient stories use prophecies as a starting point. There is a prophecy at the heart of Solon's next adventure. For the purposes of the novel I will assume the process-of-prophecy begins, not in the prophecy itself, but in a protagonist's psychological intuition that the future is not good. She or he then visits the Oracle who confirms their feelings in the form of a prophecy. The protagonist is motivated to mitigate what is prophetised through their actions, but the consequences of those actions bring about the fulfillment of the feared prophecy. The process is tragically self-justified and circular.
In the current working draft of Solon's next adventure, a metal worker called Polymetis and his wife long for a child. Polymetis seeks the help of the Oracle and the gods. His wish is granted and they have a child, but when he returns to the Oracle to give thanks he is told that he will be the cause of his child's death. He is motivated to act with tragic consequences. But he acts out of love and the child's best interests.
Did Polymetis project his own fears of the future onto the enigmatic words of the Oracle? He tells us he had a deep forboding BEFORE he went to the Oracle. This probably goes against the grain of the way ancient stories use prophesies. The novel is presuming the psychological is a priori to the prophecy, but even the ancients seemed to sometimes believe the Oracle could be interpreted in different ways and they may have had a sense that they were projecting their own fears onto the enigmatic sayings of the Oracle. Nevertheless, I think it is fair to say that, for the ancients, the word from the gods comes first.
This is certainly what Polymetis believes. He interprets the prophecy as a true 'fact' about the future. I don't believe a modern reader would buy into this and I will push the idea that he is projecting a universal natural fear of the future onto the prophecy. Hopefully this will increase the reader's sympathy for him and his wife. It certainly adds to the tragic mood.
The tragic consequences of the prophecy occur before the story in the novel unfolds and are at the core of the novel's dilemma. (Solon helps to uncover them.) There is a fateful sense to them. Did Polymetis have any control over his decisions, though he obviously had no control over many of the events? Did he have free will? These questions probably won't be answered in the novel - how could they! But I hope they set the mood and help to engage our sympathy for Polymetis.
Nevertheless, there is still a metaphysical question that straddles both the ancient and modern reading. From where does Polymetis's initial intuition of doom arise? Let us reduce it (unfairly) to a kind of 'male post-natal depression' resulting from the birth of his child. We might try to explain this in (1) evolutionary terms or (2) an imbalance of chemical humours.
As regards evolutionary terms (1), if all the events in the universe are predetermined then the 'randomness' assumed in the mechanisms of evolutionary theory are epiphenomenal. They are a true and measurable insight but are secondary (but secondary to what?). As regards a chemical imbalance (2), it might be impossible to know which way the direction of travel is between the chemistry and the 'mood' of a person. Does the 'mood' determine the chemistry or vice versa? Science assumes the latter, but it is the 'only way to get things done'. It doesn't have to be foundational for it to work. (Geometry assumes a straight line is the shortest distance between two points. We know this isn't true, but geometry still works.)
Polymetis could be right afterall. What if the initial fearful intuition is not self-generating and possibly part of the determined nature of the universe?
It is undoubtedly the case that there is a 'present', which we experience, and a 'future' which, by very definition, we have yet to experience. Many societies, including our own, have a strong sense that the future is already mapped out. Many contemporary physicists and mathemathicians believe this to be the case. But even if this is true, there is an undeniable dualism between the 'I' of experience and the big pre-determined mechanism of the universe.
Many ancient stories use prophecies as a starting point. There is a prophecy at the heart of Solon's next adventure. For the purposes of the novel I will assume the process-of-prophecy begins, not in the prophecy itself, but in a protagonist's psychological intuition that the future is not good. She or he then visits the Oracle who confirms their feelings in the form of a prophecy. The protagonist is motivated to mitigate what is prophetised through their actions, but the consequences of those actions bring about the fulfillment of the feared prophecy. The process is tragically self-justified and circular.
In the current working draft of Solon's next adventure, a metal worker called Polymetis and his wife long for a child. Polymetis seeks the help of the Oracle and the gods. His wish is granted and they have a child, but when he returns to the Oracle to give thanks he is told that he will be the cause of his child's death. He is motivated to act with tragic consequences. But he acts out of love and the child's best interests.
Did Polymetis project his own fears of the future onto the enigmatic words of the Oracle? He tells us he had a deep forboding BEFORE he went to the Oracle. This probably goes against the grain of the way ancient stories use prophesies. The novel is presuming the psychological is a priori to the prophecy, but even the ancients seemed to sometimes believe the Oracle could be interpreted in different ways and they may have had a sense that they were projecting their own fears onto the enigmatic sayings of the Oracle. Nevertheless, I think it is fair to say that, for the ancients, the word from the gods comes first.
This is certainly what Polymetis believes. He interprets the prophecy as a true 'fact' about the future. I don't believe a modern reader would buy into this and I will push the idea that he is projecting a universal natural fear of the future onto the prophecy. Hopefully this will increase the reader's sympathy for him and his wife. It certainly adds to the tragic mood.
The tragic consequences of the prophecy occur before the story in the novel unfolds and are at the core of the novel's dilemma. (Solon helps to uncover them.) There is a fateful sense to them. Did Polymetis have any control over his decisions, though he obviously had no control over many of the events? Did he have free will? These questions probably won't be answered in the novel - how could they! But I hope they set the mood and help to engage our sympathy for Polymetis.
Nevertheless, there is still a metaphysical question that straddles both the ancient and modern reading. From where does Polymetis's initial intuition of doom arise? Let us reduce it (unfairly) to a kind of 'male post-natal depression' resulting from the birth of his child. We might try to explain this in (1) evolutionary terms or (2) an imbalance of chemical humours.
As regards evolutionary terms (1), if all the events in the universe are predetermined then the 'randomness' assumed in the mechanisms of evolutionary theory are epiphenomenal. They are a true and measurable insight but are secondary (but secondary to what?). As regards a chemical imbalance (2), it might be impossible to know which way the direction of travel is between the chemistry and the 'mood' of a person. Does the 'mood' determine the chemistry or vice versa? Science assumes the latter, but it is the 'only way to get things done'. It doesn't have to be foundational for it to work. (Geometry assumes a straight line is the shortest distance between two points. We know this isn't true, but geometry still works.)
Polymetis could be right afterall. What if the initial fearful intuition is not self-generating and possibly part of the determined nature of the universe?
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